Despite lofty narratives released by his campaign to the contrary, president-elect Barack Obama received about the same amount of money from small donors as George W. Bush did in 2004, according to a new study.

During the campaign, Obama's handlers touted the fact that about half of Obama's funds came in contributions of $200 or less. But the study conducted by the non-partisan Campaign Finance Institute (CFI), found that in the aggregate, these small donors gave only 26 percent of his money, a figure similar to 25 percent for Bush.

The descrepancy between the figures is that many of those $200-or-smaller donors gave repeatedly, an act which disqualifies them from being included in the small-donor category.

"The myth is that money from small donors dominated Barack Obama's finances," CFI's executive director Michael J. Malbin said in a release accompanying the study. "The reality of Obama's fundraising was impressive, but the reality does not match the myth."

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